1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and a device for transporting an electronic component, and a method of and a device for mounting the electronic component.
2. Description of the Related Art
As tendency of downsizing, thin-model and a higher performance in an electronic device have been advanced in recent years, an electronic component mounted on a print substrate has also been downsized more and more rapidly. A size of chip components (for example, chip resistor, chip capacitor, chip inductor and the like), which is currently length 0.4 mm×width 0.2 mm×height 0.2 mm, is expected to be length 0.1 mm×width 0.05 mm×height 0.05 mm in the future. Further, a size of a semiconductor bare chip that is mainstream, is currently 0.3 mm in square, but it is expected to be reduced to 0.1 mm in square in the future.
In a process for mounting the electronic components having the aforementioned small sizes, as recited in No. 2000-77438 of the Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open, the electronic component is often mounted on a circuit substrate after it is transported under a state where it is held with a holding tool or adsorbed by a head having a vacuum suction mechanism. However, it is said that it is already almost beyond the technical limits to pick up, transport and mount even an electronic component with the current chip size (chip-type electronic component of 0.4 mm×0.2 mm×0.2 mm, or semiconductor bare chip having the size of 0.03 mm in square). Therefore, it is thought that it may not be possible to pick up, transport and mount a microminiature electronic component even if it is commercialized as a result of further advancements in the downsizing process. In other words, apart from the pursuit of technical innovations for the manufacturing of the microminiature electronic component, there lies another problem we have to face in the future, that is, how the downsized electronic component can be picked up, transported and mounted.